Second fuel-price rise this week

Photo / APN

BP yesterday raised its fuel prices for the second time this week, and was expected to be joined overnight by Caltex, if not other suppliers.

Main-centre BP stations - apart from those subject to a price freeze in the Canterbury earthquake zone - were selling 91 octane petrol last night for $2.11 a litre, and diesel for $1.56.

That compares with the record petrol price of $2.19 in 2008 and means both fuels are 10c a litre more expensive than at the beginning of the week, when the oil companies were still trying to absorb international cost rises caused largely by instability in Libya.

Caltex owner Chevron was also preparing to lift its prices at midnight by another 5c for petrol and by 1c for diesel, rather than the second 5c increase imposed on that fuel by BP.

Mobil and Greenstone Energy-owned Shell had yet to indicate their intentions last night, although Gull said it would have to review its prices today from a markedly lower starting point than the major companies.

It was still selling its 91 octane petrol and biofuel blend last night for $2 a litre, and regular diesel for $1.42.

BP spokeswoman Diana Papadopoulos said her company had not fully recovered its costs through price rises on Tuesday and moved up again yesterday after a fall in the Kiwi dollar and a 3c increase on imported fuel. But it was continuing to hold prices in Christchurch and outlying towns.

Chevron's Sharon Buckland said the company was still absorbing the cost of its price freeze within an hour's drive from Christchurch but "we can't absorb the rest of the country".

She said there was considerable sympathy in Chevron's regional and head offices in Singapore and the United States for the plight of Christchurch's earthquake survivors.

But she believed New Zealanders had been so absorbed in the disaster they might fail to appreciate the impact of the Libyan crisis on global fuel supplies.

LATEST HIGH

* 91 octane petrol - $2.11 a litre

* Diesel - $1.56 a litre